Whittier : Couple Will Be First to Get $500 Anti-Graffiti Reward

A local couple will receive a $500 reward Tuesday for their help in collaring two teen-age graffiti vandals. The award is the first handed out since City Council members voted in January to reward Whittier residents who help the city catch taggers.

Residents Dina and Art Chavez flagged down a police car about 10 p.m. April 11 after they saw two youths spray-painting graffiti on a shopping center wall along Philadelphia Street near Whittier High School. The youths, both 16, marked a curb, a light pole and stop signs as well as the walls of two businesses.

Dina Chavez said she and her husband were not thinking about the reward when they summoned police. They were upset by what they saw and wanted to do something, she said. A police officer at the scene urged them to apply for the reward.

A Juvenile Court judge convicted the teen-agers of vandalism May 1 and fined them each $49, Police Department spokesman Chuck Drylie. The vandals’ parents will be billed for the cost of the reward, officials said.

So far, residents have filed two other claims for a reward in separate cases.